DNS - OpenDNS Secures $4.5 Million in Funding

OpenDNS has closed a $4.5 million round of funding, according to a report from Deals&More. Citing a filing with the SEC (News - Alert), Open DNS, a provider of internet security, said that Sequoia Capital and Greylock Partners participated in the funding round.

Deals&More said OpenDNS is a free DNS service that provides individuals, schools and businesses with phishing protection, parental controls and typo corrections for misspelled URLs.

OpenDNS also operates a Web site called the Phish Tank that allows users to submit suspected phishing sites, according to Deals&More. The company recently reported that it had identified more than 1 million phishing links.

Founded in 2005, OpenDNS is based in San Francisco. It generates revenue from ads and first raised $2.5 million from CNET founder Halsey Minor in 2005, according to Deals&More.

OpenDNS reported that included among the top most spoofed brands in September was PayPal (News - Alert), with more than 9,000 valid phishes. Other frequently spoofed brands include banking sites HSBC and Bradesco, gaming sites World of Warcraft, Zynga and Tibia, and social networking site Facebook (News - Alert). September is the first month in which Zynga has appeared on PhishTank’s top ten most frequently phished brands.

Highlights from the September 2010 PhishTank statistics include:

• Total number of votes by the PhishTank community: 64,660
• Total number of unique, suspected phishing scams reported: 14,679
• Country hosting the most phishing sites: United States
• Percentage of phishing sites hosted in United States: 50
• Median time it took for the PhishTank community to verify phishes: 4 hours, 55 minutes